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<h1><a name="SECTION009500000000000000000">
7.5 <tt class="module">mimetools</tt> --
         Tools for parsing MIME messages</a>
</h1>

<p>
<a name="module-mimetools"></a>

<p>
<div class="versionnote"><b>Deprecated since release 2.3.</b>
The <tt class="module"><a href="module-email.html">email</a></tt> package should be used in
                 preference to the <tt class="module">mimetools</tt> module.  This
                 module is present only to maintain backward
                 compatibility.</div><p></p>

<p>
This module defines a subclass of the
<tt class="module"><a href="module-rfc822.html">rfc822</a></tt><a id='l2h-1498' xml:id='l2h-1498'></a> module's
<tt class="class">Message</tt> class and a number of utility functions that are
useful for the manipulation for MIME multipart or encoded message.

<p>
It defines the following items:

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><span class="typelabel">class</span>&nbsp;<tt id='l2h-1492' xml:id='l2h-1492' class="class">Message</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>fp</var><big>[</big><var>, seekable</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Return a new instance of the <tt class="class">Message</tt> class.  This is a
subclass of the <tt class="class">rfc822.Message</tt> class, with some additional
methods (see below).  The <var>seekable</var> argument has the same meaning
as for <tt class="class">rfc822.Message</tt>.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-1493' xml:id='l2h-1493' class="function">choose_boundary</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Return a unique string that has a high likelihood of being usable as a
part boundary.  The string has the form
<code>'<var>hostipaddr</var>.<var>uid</var>.<var>pid</var>.<var>timestamp</var>.<var>random</var>'</code>.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-1494' xml:id='l2h-1494' class="function">decode</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>input, output, encoding</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Read data encoded using the allowed MIME <var>encoding</var> from open file
object <var>input</var> and write the decoded data to open file object
<var>output</var>.  Valid values for <var>encoding</var> include
<code>'base64'</code>, <code>'quoted-printable'</code>, <code>'uuencode'</code>,
<code>'x-uuencode'</code>, <code>'uue'</code>, <code>'x-uue'</code>, <code>'7bit'</code>, and 
<code>'8bit'</code>.  Decoding messages encoded in <code>'7bit'</code> or <code>'8bit'</code>
has no effect.  The input is simply copied to the output.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-1495' xml:id='l2h-1495' class="function">encode</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>input, output, encoding</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Read data from open file object <var>input</var> and write it encoded using
the allowed MIME <var>encoding</var> to open file object <var>output</var>.
Valid values for <var>encoding</var> are the same as for <tt class="method">decode()</tt>.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-1496' xml:id='l2h-1496' class="function">copyliteral</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>input, output</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Read lines from open file <var>input</var> until EOF and write them to
open file <var>output</var>.
</dl>

<p>
<dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline">
  <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-1497' xml:id='l2h-1497' class="function">copybinary</tt></b>(</nobr></td>
  <td><var>input, output</var>)</td></tr></table></dt>
<dd>
Read blocks until EOF from open file <var>input</var> and write them to
open file <var>output</var>.  The block size is currently fixed at 8192.
</dl>

<p>
<div class="seealso">
  <p class="heading">See Also:</p>

  <dl compact="compact" class="seemodule">
    <dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-email.html">email</a></tt>:</b>
    <dd>Comprehensive email handling package; supersedes
                    the <tt class="module">mimetools</tt> module.
  </dl>
  <dl compact="compact" class="seemodule">
    <dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-rfc822.html">rfc822</a></tt>:</b>
    <dd>Provides the base class for
                     <tt class="class">mimetools.Message</tt>.
  </dl>
  <dl compact="compact" class="seemodule">
    <dt>Module <b><tt class="module"><a href="module-multifile.html">multifile</a></tt>:</b>
    <dd>Support for reading files which contain
                        distinct parts, such as MIME data.
  </dl>
  <dl compact="compact" class="seeurl">
    <dt><a href="http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/mail/mime-faq/.html"
        class="url">http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/mail/mime-faq/.html</a></dt>
    <dd>
          The MIME Frequently Asked Questions document.  For an
          overview of MIME, see the answer to question 1.1 in Part 1
          of this document.</dd>
  </dl>
</div>

<p>

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<span class="release-info">Release 2.5.1, documentation updated on 18th April, 2007.</span>
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